Radiation damage in III-V semiconductors for space applications

E. YACCUZZI; E. DI LISCIA; M. REINOSO; M. ALURRALDE; JUAN PLA; A. STRITTMATTER; P. GIUDICI

Matsue

Conferencia; International Conference on Defects in Semiconductors; 2017

Multijunction solarcells based on InGaP2 and GaAs materials are currently the state of art forspace applications due to the large efficiency achieved, nowadays 30% forInGaP2/GaAs/Ge triple junction solar cells. However, the space is a hazardousenvironment and the different energetic particles found in it can degrade thesolar cell efficiency and hence, the lifetime of the satellite. Much effort wasdone trying to understand and predict the electrical parameters degradation ofsolar cells [1-2], doing experiments as well as by means of simulation software[3]. To gain insight in the degradation of the solar cells, our aim is to   understand the effect of damage on itsconstituent materials. A lot of investigations were done on irradiated GaAssystems [4], but mostly in macroscopic ranges or with destructive techniques.